Poetry Magazine Prizes (original) (raw)
Several prizes are awarded annually for work printed in Poetry during the preceding year. Only poems already published in the magazine are eligible for consideration, and no formal application is necessary. The winners are announced in the December issue. Below the prize descriptions is a complete list of past prize winners.
The Poetry Foundation also administers many other awards and grants.
The Levinson Prize, presented annually since 1914 through the generosity of the late Salmon O. Levinson and his family, in the amount of $500, is awarded to Jennifer Chang for her poems “Dialogues (Against Literature)” and “The Age of Unreason” from the July/August 2023 issue.
The Bess Hokin Prize, established in 1948 through the generosity of _Poetry_’s late friend and guarantor Mrs. David Hokin, in the amount of $1,000, is awarded to Omar Sakr for his series of three poems titled “On Finding the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in Dante's ‘Inferno’” in the June 2023 issue.
The Frederick Bock Prize, founded in 1981 by friends in memory of the former associate editor of Poetry, in the amount of $500, is awarded to Michelle Peñaloza for her poems “Utang Na Loob” and “All the Words I Can Remember Are Poems” from the July/August 2023 issue.
The J. Howard and Barbara M.J. Wood Prize, endowed since 1994, in the amount of $5,000, is awarded to Omotara James for her poems “Autobiography of Thud” and “First Kiss/Under Capitalism” in the January 2023 issue.
The John Frederick Nims Memorial Prize for Translation, established in 1999 by Bonnie Larkin Nims, trustees of the Poetry Foundation, and friends of the late poet, translator, and editor, in the amount of $500, is awarded to Lena Khalaf Tuffaha for her translations of Zakaria Mohammed’s poems, “January 2,” “August 15,” and “August 16” in the September 2023 issue.
The Friends of Literature Prize, established in 2002 by the Friends of Literature, in the amount of $500, is awarded to Yongyu Chen for their poem “Theory of Mesh” in the February 2023 issue.
The Editors Prize for Feature Article, established in 2005, in the amount of $1,000, is awarded to two authors this year: Nikky Finney for her essay “Carolyn Rodgers: Loving on Black People” in the October 2022 issue and torrin a. greathouse for her essay “Writing from the Ashes: On the Burning Haibun” in the July/August 2023 issue.
The Editors Prize for Reviewing, established in 2004, in the amount of $1,000, was not awarded in 2022 or 2023 since Poetry magazine didn’t publish any reviews in the eligible issues. Instead, we awarded two prizes for Feature Article.
The Editors Prize for Visual Poetry, established in 2019, in the amount of $1,000, is awarded to Roda Avelar for her poem “Jotxland Epic” from the March 2023 issue.
Congratulations to this year’s winners and many thanks to the judges of this year’s magazine prizes: Alejandro Aguirre, Sohini Basak, Emily Brandt, Nicholas Goodly, Lisa Low, and Natalie Perman.
Past Winners by Prize and Year
The Levinson Prize has been presented annually since 1914 through the generosity of the late Salmon O. Levinson and his family, and is now permanently endowed. Past winners include:
| Carl Sandburg 1914Vachel Lindsay 1915Edgar Lee Masters 1916Cloyd Head 1917O. C. Underwood 1918H. L. Davis 1919Wallace Stevens 1920Lew Sarett 1921Robert Frost 1922Edwin Arlington Robinson 1923Amy Lowell 1924Ralph Cheever Dunning 1925Mark Turbyfill 1926Maurice Lesemann 1927Elinor Wylie 1928Marjorie Seiffert 1929Hart Crane 1930Edna St. Vincent Millay 1931no prizes awarded 1932Marianne Moore 1933Horace Gregory 1934Mary Barnard 1935Robert Penn Warren 1936Louise Bogan 1937H. D. 1938E. E. Cummings 1939Robinson Jeffers 1940Archibald MacLeish 1941Karl J. Shapiro 1942John Malcoln Brinnin 1943John Frederick Nims 1944Dylan Thomas 1945John Ciardi 1946Muriel Rukeyser 1947Randall Jarrell 1948James Merrill 1949John Berryman 1950 | Theodore Roethke 1951St. John Perse 1952Vernon Watkins 1953William Carlos Williams 1954Thom Gunn 1955Stanley Kunitz 1956Jay MacPherson 1957Hayden Carruth 1958Delmore Schwartz 1959Robert Creeley 1960David Jones 1961Anne Sexton 1962Robert Lowell 1963Robert Duncan 1964George Barker 1965Basil Bunting 1966Alan Dugan 1967Gary Snyder 1968A. D. Hope 1969A. R. Ammons 1970Turner Cassity 1971Michael Hamburger 1972Richard Howard 1973John Hollander 1974Howard Nemerov 1975Judith Moffett 1976John Ashbery 1977Brewster Ghiselin 1978Philip Levine 1979Marilyn Hacker 1980James Dickey 1981Alfred Corn 1982Frederick Turner 1983Ernst Pöppel 1983Gary Soto 1984David Bottoms 1985Raymond Carver 1985 | Maxine Kumin 1986Stephen Dunn 1987Reynolds Price 1988Brendan Galvin 1989J. D. McClatchy 1990Linda Gregerson 1991W. S. Merwin 1992May Sarton 1993David Wagoner 1994Billy Collins 1995Philip Schultz 1996Yusef Komunyakaa 1997Rita Dove 1998Stephen Dobyns 1999Kenneth Koch 2000Charlie Smith 2001Sandra M. Gilbert 2002Patrick McGuinness 2003W. S. Di Piero 2004Frank Bidart 2005Geoffrey Hill 2006Mary Kinzie 2007Frederick Seidel 2008Ilya Kaminsky 2009Ron Silliman 2010Carolyn Forché 2011Dean Young 2012Joshua Mehigan 2013Thomas Sayers Ellis 2014Rae Armantrout 2015C.D Wright 2016Li-Young Lee 2017Carl Philips 2018Monica Youn 2019 Nathaniel Mackey 2020Tongo Eisen-Martin 2021Patricia Jabbeh Wesley 2022 |
|---|
The Bess Hokin Prize was established in 1947 through the generosity of our late friend and guarantor, Mrs. David Hokin, and is given annually in her memory. Past winners include:
| William Abrahams 1948Barbara Howes 1949Lloyd Frankenberg 1950M. B. Tolson 1951L. E. Hudgins 1952Ruth Stone 1953Hayden Carruth 1954Philip Booth 1955Charles Tomlinson 1956Sylvia Plath 1957Alan Neame 1958Jean Clower 1959Denise Levertov 1960X. J. Kennedy 1961W. S. Merwin 1962Adrienne Rich 1963Gary Snyder 1964Galway Kinnell 1965Thomas Clark 1966Wendell Berry 1967Michael Benedikt 1968Marvin Bell 1969Charles Martin 1970Erica Jong 1971Sandra McPherson 1972Jane Shore 1973 | Margaret Atwood 1974Charles O. Hartman 1975Norman Dubie 1976Gary Soto 1977Richard Kenney 1978Robert Beverley Ray 1979Gerald Stern 1980Caroline Knox 1981Pattiann Rogers 1982Lawrence Raab 1983Greg Glazner 1984Linda Pastan 1985Stephen Dobyns 1986Ralph Angel 1987George Starbuck 1988Alice Fulton 1989Billy Collins 1990Gary Fincke 1991Richard Foerster 1992Julie Suk 1993J. D. McClatchy 1994Carl Dennis 1995Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill 1996Paul Muldoon 1996James Kimbrell 1997 | D. Nurkse 1998Dabney Stuart 1999George Scarbrough 2000Wayne Miller 2001Alissa Leigh 2002Robert Bly 2003A. F. Moritz 2004Craig Arnold 2005Robert Pinsky 2006Conor O'Callaghan 2007George Szirtes 2008Roddy Lumsden 2009Valzhyna Mort 2010Tom Pickard 2011Linda Kunhardt 2012Laura Kasischke 2013Claudia Rankine 2014Terrance Hayes 2015Aracelis Girmay 2016Roger Reeves 2017Solmaz Sharif 2018Ken Chen 2019Mei-mei Berssenbrugge 2020Eugenia Leigh 2021Jan Dennis Destajo and Kabel Mishka Ligot 2022 |
|---|
The Frederick Bock Prize was founded in 1981 by friends of the late former Associate Editor of Poetry. Past winners include:
| John N. Morris 1981Baron Wormser 1982Richard Kenney 1983Rodney Jones 1984Dana Gioia 1985Cathy Song 1986Kevin Stein 1987Robert Wrigley 1988J. Allyn Rosser 1989George Witte 1990Neal Bowers 1991Billy Collins 1992Jane Kenyon 1993Tom Disch 1994Alison Stone 1995 | James Scruton 1996Andrew Hudgins 1997Pattiann Rogers 1998Sarah Arvio 1999Roberta Spear 2000Trevor West Knapp 2001David Bottoms 2002D. Nurske 2003A. E. Stallings 2004Albert Goldbarth 2005Thylias Moss 2006Jason Guriel 2007Rae Armantrout 2008Don Paterson 2009Paul Hoover 2010 | Reginald Dwayne Betts 2011Ange Mlinko 2012Anna Maria Hong 2013Franny Choi 2014Tarfia Faizullah 2015Hai-Dang Phan 2016Zeina Hashem Beck 2017Noah Baldino 2018John Lee Clark 2019Julian Randall 2020Jane Wong 2021Muna Abdulahi 2022 |
|---|
The Union League Civic and Arts Poetry Prize for a young poet was presented annually from 1951 to 1972, and re-established in 1993 to 2006, through the generosity of the Union League Civic & Arts Foundation. Past winners include:
| Horace Gregory 1951Robinson Jeffers 1952Robert Penn Warren 1953Dorothy Donnelly 1954Anne Ridler 1955Jean Garrigue 1956Robert Duncan 1957James Dickey 1958William Stafford 1959Ben Belitt 1960Charles Tomlinson 1961William Dickey 1962 | William Jay Smith 1963Louis Zukofsky 1964Gael Turnbull 1965John Ashbery 1966Robert Creeley 1967Clayton Eshleman 1968Margaret Atwood 1969Dick Allen 1970Philip Murray 1971Tom Disch 1972William Matthews 1993Debora Greger 1994 | Neal Bowers 1995Sandra M. Gilbert 1996David Wagoner 1997Yusef Komunyakaa 1998J. D. McClatchy 1999Kay Ryan 2000Ellen Hinsey 2001Not Awarded 2002Eleanor Stanford 2003Neisha Tweed 2004Meghan O'Rourke 2005Katherine Larson 2006 |
|---|
The J. Howard and Barbara M. J. Wood Prize is presented annually and endowed since 1994 through the generosity of Mrs. Wood. Past winners include:
| Rebecca McClanahan 1994W. S. Merwin 1995Charles Wright 1996Carl Dennis 1997Robert Wrigley 1998Billy Collins 1999Charlie Smith 2000Stephen Dunn 2001Stephen Dobyns 2002William Logan 2003 | Atsuro Riley 2004J. Allyn Rosser 2005Joel Brouwer 2006Heidi Steidlmayer 2007Seth Abramson 2008Sarah Lindsay 2009Dorothea Grossman 2010Franz Wright 2011Eduardo Corral 2012Randall Mann 2013 | Jamaal May 2014Jillian Weise 2015John Murillo 2016Layli Long Soldier 2017Danez Smith 2018torrin a. greathouse 2019Karisma Price 2020Willie Lee Kinard III 2021Janelle Tan 2022 |
|---|
The John Frederick Nims Memorial Prize for translation work is permanently endowed through a fund established by Bonnie Larkin Nims, Trustees of The Poetry Foundation, and friends of the late poet, translator, and Editor of Poetry. Past winners include:
| Rita Dove and Fred Viebahn 1999Andrew Shields 2000Marilyn Hacker 2001Eavan Boland 2002Reginald Gibbons and Charles Segal 2003Sherod Santos 2004Clare Cavanagh 2005Geoffrey Brock 2006 | Michael Hofmann 2007Philip Nikolayev 2008Susanna Nied 2009Laura Leichum 2010A.E. Stallings 2011Peter Cole 2012Miller Oberman 2013Kareem James Abu-Zeid 2014 | Ming Di and Jennifer Stern 2015Julia Guez and Samantha Zighelboim 2016Jeffrey Angles 2017Karen Leeder 2018John Hennessy and Ostap Kin 2019Amy Newman 2020Jae Kim 2021Irma Pineda and Wendy Call 2022 |
|---|
The Friends of Literature Prize was established in 2002 by The Friends of Literature, founded in Chicago in 1934 to study literature and to honor those who create it. Past winners include:
| Gregory Djanikian 2002Susan Kinsolving 2003Ralph Sneeden 2004Nance Van Winckel 2005Dana Levin 2006Todd Hearon 2007Leila Wilson 2008Sandra Beasley 2009 | Spencer Reece 2010Sina Queyras 2011Devin Johnston 2012Idra Novey 2013francine j. harris 2014Amy Newman 2015Heather Phillipson 2016Tommy Pico 2017 | Eboni Hogan 2018Vanessa Angélica Villarreal 2019TC Tolbert 2020Keith S. Wilson 2021 Gabriel Townsell 2022 |
|---|
The Editors Prize for Criticism was established in 2004 by the Poetry Foundation.
Michael Hofmann 2004
Editors Prize for Feature Article was established in 2005 by the Poetry Foundation.
Mary Kinzie 2005
Tony Hoagland 2006
Clive James 2007
Vivian Gornick 2008
Daisy Fried 2009
Durs Grünbein 2010
Joshua Mehigan 2011
Mary Ruefle 2012
Eliza Griswold and Seamus Murphy 2013
Tom Sleigh 2014
Jenny Zhang 2015
Garrett Caples 2016
Carl Phillips 2017
Matthew Bevis 2018
Jennifer Tseng 2019
Joy Ladin 2020
heidi andrea restrepo rhodes 2021
Sasha Pimentel and Raymond Antrobus 2022
Editors Prize for Book Reviewing was established in 2005 by the Poetry Foundation.
D.H. Tracy 2005
David Orr 2006
Brian Phillips 2007
Ange Mlinko 2008
Jason Guriel 2009
Abigail Deutsch 2010
Peter Campion 2011
Adam Kirsch 2012
Michael Robbins 2013
Frances Richard 2014
Maya Catherine Popa 2015
Jim Johnstone 2016
Vidyan Ravinthiran 2017
Paul Batchelor 2018
Mark Ford 2019
Kit Fan 2020
Alan Gilbert 2021
The Editors Prize for Best Letter was established in 2009 by the Poetry Foundation.
Reagan Upshaw 2009
Daniel Brett Clendening 2010
Belle Randall 2011
The Editors Prize for Visual Poetry was established in 2019 by the Poetry Foundation.
Alyssa Moore 2019
Charles Shields 2020
Oli Rodriguez 2021
Keith S. Wilson 2022